Comments

There are quite a few call centers where a minimum amount of college is required that pay less than $15.00. It is only in the last year in fact that I have ever had a position which paid more than $15.00/hr, and I earn 90%+ of my family of four’s income. I am not sure why you (or the striking workers) think now is a good time to have this debate when there are people I know personally who would be thrilled to be making minimum wage in fast food. The fast food companies could probably fire all the striking workers and replace them with workers who hold college degrees tomorrow, let alone the traditional workforce (meaning what I worked with when I worked fast food for 6 years) of teenagers, ex-convicts, immigrants, and welfare workers who can only work x number of hours a week or they lose their benefits; I suppose that traditional workforce may have been pushed out of the workforce entirely.

Chris, I do not dspute your statistics, but I wonder how you arrived at the idea that people think that minimum wage earners usually teens living with their parents working part time just to earn extra money. Most people I know do not have such a perception.

I, myself do havethe general perception that education level and field of education play an important part in part in a person’s wage level.

But, there is no one panacea for the problem of poverty in our current world. Greed, laziness, poor decisions, and a host of other ills help to keep many people livinf in poverty.